Exodus 14–18: Lesson 45

Exodus 14

“Fear Ye Not”

We might feel hopeless at times, similar to how the Israelites might have felt while trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army. However, Moses’s counsel to them still applies to us today: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13). This lesson can help students feel the desire to place their trust in the Lord for strength and deliverance.

Student preparation: Invite students to study Exodus 14:13–14 and to consider aspects of their lives where these verses could help.

Possible Learning Activities

Surrounded by trials

Help students reflect on challenges in their lives that can make them feel overwhelmed or trapped. One way to do this is to share the following statement from Brother Milton Camargo of the Sunday School General Presidency. You could write his father’s advice in the center of the board.

Brother Milton Camargo, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, shared advice from his father:

My father used to tell me, “Don’t focus so intensely on your problems that you can’t see the solution.” (“Focus on Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2023, 64)

Ask students to share what they think Brother Camargo’s father was teaching. Then invite them to write around the statement on the board any problems, challenges, or trials that may be difficult for them to see solutions to.

Students could answer the first of the following questions aloud. With the second question, it may be wise to invite them to quietly ponder their answers.

Ponder times when you may have felt there was no solution to the problems you have faced.

• What are some ways a person might respond in such circumstances?

• How do you normally respond under such circumstances?

As you study Exodus 14 today, seek inspiration from the Holy Ghost to help you increase your desire to trust in the Lord as you face or prepare to face challenges and trials.

The Israelites’ predicament

To help students understand the Israelites’ situation in Exodus 14, display or help them locate map 2 in the Bible Maps, found in the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Bible. As you share the following paragraph, invite students to locate Pi-hahiroth (#3) on the map.

As the children of Israel left Egypt, the Lord commanded Moses to lead them to Pi-hahiroth (Exodus 14:2). Shortly after letting the Israelites go, Pharaoh realized that “the wilderness had shut them in” (Exodus 14:3), so he hardened his heart and pursued after them.

President Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained the following about the Israelites’ circumstances.

The children of Israel [were in a] horrible predicament. … There were chariots behind them, sand dunes on every side, and a lot of water immediately ahead. … In this case it was literally a matter of life and death. (“Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Ensign, Mar. 2000, 9)

To help students visualize this account, you could show them the following image of the Red Sea. Invite them to imagine they were among the Israelites at this moment.

• How might you have responded under these circumstances?

Consider inviting students to compare and contrast the Israelites’ response to their circumstances with Moses’s response. Noting similarities and differences between people, teachings, and events in the scriptures is an important scripture study skill. Making these comparisons can help students identify important gospel truths that they might not see otherwise. You might want to briefly explain the skill of comparing and contrasting. Invite students to practice it in the following study activity.

In your study journal, create a small chart with two columns. Label one column Israelites and the other Moses.

Read Exodus 14:10–14, looking for what the Israelites said and what Moses said. Summarize what you find in the appropriate column.

• What did the Israelites focus on in these circumstances? What did Moses focus on?

• What do you notice by comparing what they said?

• What do you learn from this account that could help you with your challenges?

  Among other truths students may share, help them see the following: Focusing on Jesus Christ can increase our hope during challenges and trials.

• What problems do you think can happen if we only focus on our challenges and trials?

Focusing on Christ

Consider sharing the rest of Brother Camargo’s statement from the beginning of the lesson.

Brother Camargo shared the following about the power of focusing on Jesus Christ:

My father used to tell me, “Don’t focus so intensely on your problems that you can’t see the solution.”

I testify that the Lord Jesus Christ is the solution to even our most difficult problems. (“Focus on Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2023, 64)

• Why do you think focusing on Jesus Christ is helpful when we feel surrounded or trapped by our challenges or trials?

  To demonstrate what Brother Camargo taught, invite students to first focus their mind on the challenges they wrote on the board. Have them focus on those challenges for 30 seconds. Then ask them to ponder how they feel.

  Next, place a picture of Jesus Christ at the front of the class. Invite students to solely focus their thoughts on His power and love for 30 seconds. Invite students to write their answers to the following question in their study journals.

• What difference might you notice when you focus on Jesus Christ and His power more than the challenges you are facing?

  Display the questions below, and separate students into pairs or small groups. Invite them to choose two or three of the challenges on the board and to discuss these questions.

• In what ways can Jesus Christ be a solution to the problems, challenges, or trials you chose?

• How can a person act with faith in Jesus Christ during that specific problem, challenge, or trial?

Invite willing students to share what they learned or felt.

The Lord’s mighty power

Consider having students read the following verses individually or in partnerships. Students could also draw what they read in their study journals.

If it is beneficial for your students, you could invite several students to briefly act out verses 19–22. For example, you could create a small barrier that can be removed or separated, allowing the students to walk through.

Another option is to show the animated video “The Passover” from time code 1:28 to 2:32. This video is found on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Read Exodus 14:15–31, looking for how the Lord fought for and delivered the Israelites.

• What inspires you about this account?

• What did you find that helps you want to place your trust in the Lord?

Personal strength and deliverance

The next question may initially be difficult for students to answer. Hearing the experiences of others can help them think of their own. You might want to share an experience you or someone you know has had that could help answer the question. Or show a video such as the following that depicts the importance of focusing on the Savior during our trials:

“Finding Christ During Difficult Times” (4:35)

“Feeling the Lord’s Love and Goodness in Trials” (4:18)

Both videos are available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

• How has focusing on Jesus Christ during a challenge or trial helped you or someone you know?

Help students see that sometimes we may not be delivered from our challenges in the ways we expect. However, focusing on Jesus Christ can help us find hope and strength no matter what we are facing.

Consider ending by sharing your testimony of Jesus Christ and of the importance of focusing on Him in our trials. You may consider including the statement below with your testimony.

Brother Camargo testified that the Savior can help us:

The Lord Jesus Christ lives today. He can be an active, daily presence in our lives. He is the solution to our problems, but we must lift our eyes and raise our sights to see Him. He has said, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” [Doctrine and Covenants 6:36]. (“Focus on Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2023, 67)

Additional Resources

How can Jesus Christ help me in my challenges?

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles invited:

Try just saying the name “Jesus Christ” in a perilous setting with one who has lost hope. Just calling upon Him by name, with reverence, can make a difference in a difficult moment. (“Jesus Christ Is the Answer” [evening with a General Authority, Feb. 8, 2019], 3)

President Russell M. Nelson stated:

Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. (“The Answer Is Always Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2023, 127)

President Russell M. Nelson said:

When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation … and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. (“Joy and Spiritual Survival,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 82)

Elder Isaac K. Morrison of the Seventy explained:

The love we feel because of the Savior and His Atonement becomes a powerful resource to us in our trying moments. … He commanded, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” [John 16:33]. He can help us endure whatever pain, sickness, and trials we face in mortality. (“We Can Do Hard Things through Him,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 116–17)

Why does God not always deliver me from my challenges and trials?

President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) explained:

Our Heavenly Father … knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before. (“I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 87)

Supplemental Learning Activities

The wisdom and power of God

When discussing the map in the lesson, you might consider emphasizing God’s wisdom and power by explaining that the children of Israel originally arrived in Succoth (Exodus 13:20). Help students locate Succoth on the map. Invite them to find the most direct route from Succoth to Canaan (the promised land).

Invite students to read Exodus 14:1–2, looking for where the Lord told Moses to lead the children of Israel instead. Help them locate Pi-hahiroth on the map.

• What do you notice about the direction the Lord led the children of Israel?

You may need to explain that the most direct route to Canaan would have been to travel north of the Red Sea along the Mediterranean Sea. The Lord instead directed the Israelites to travel south and camp next to the Red Sea.

• What questions might you have had about the route if you were one of the Israelites?

• How might taking the Israelites to the Red Sea help others “know that [He is] the Lord”? (Exodus 14:4).

Doctrine and Covenants 8:3. “This is the spirit of revelation”

To help students learn about revelation, invite them to read Exodus 14:15–16. Ask them to look for how Moses knew what to do when trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea.

• How do you think the Lord spoke to Moses at this moment?

Invite students to read the doctrinal mastery passage Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3, looking for how the Lord spoke to Moses.

• What do you learn about revelation?

• When has the Lord spoken to your mind or heart?

Invite students to cross-reference or link Exodus 14:15–16 to Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3.

The influence of Moses’s account of the Red Sea

You might want to help students see the effect this account can have on their lives. Consider sharing that for thousands of years, the account of the Lord delivering the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt has inspired prophets and people to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Divide the class into pairs or small groups, and assign them one of the following passages to study. Write the questions below on the board for students to refer to and discuss as they study.

1 Nephi 3:31; 4:1–3 (Lehi’s sons were trying to get the brass plates from Laban.)

1 Nephi 17:25–27, 51 (Nephi was trying to convince his brothers to help him build a ship.)

Alma 36:27–28 (Alma was teaching his son Helaman to put his trust in God.)

• How do you think the account of the Exodus could have helped this individual or group in their situation?

• What lines or phrases from Exodus 14 could encourage you to trust in the Lord and in His power to deliver you?

Invite students to apply this account to their own lives with the following prompt:

If God was willing and able to part the Red Sea for the ancient Israelites, I know He can also help me with .